2010: Hello, tax; goodbye, tax

Starting Friday, Marion County residents will pay more at the gas pump. But they will also pay a bit less at the cash register.

By Bill Thompson Staff writer

Starting Friday, Marion County residents will pay more at the gas pump. But they will also pay a bit less at the cash register. A new 5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline kicks in Friday, courtesy of a County Commission vote last February. Meanwhile, Friday marks the sunset of a half-cent sales tax that voters adopted in 2004 to fund new school construction. County commissioners enacted the gas tax, which is slated to run for 30 years, to fund the repayment of up to $50 million the county planned to borrow for road projects. Marion County took an initial draw of $23.2 million in 2009. County Transportation Department officials have said they will request the remainder sometime in 2010. The tax will increase the price of a gallon of regular gas at Ocala-area stations from an average of about $2.61 to $2.66, based on a survey of local prices compiled as of Thursday by AAA Club South. The gas tax does not apply to diesel fuel. A special legislative committee estimated in a November report that the tax will generate $7.9 million a year for the county. That amount was up slightly — about $100,000 — from estimates provided when the commission was debating the levy nearly a year ago. The county will not get all of the money. The County Commission agreed to share the revenues with the five municipalities within Marion County. But, according to the commission’s top finance officer, the tax, under current projections, will provide some extra cash to spend on other highway needs. Under the current formula, the county will receive 70.1 percent of the total gas-tax revenue. That comes to $5.55 million, based on the most recent estimates. The city of Ocala will see about $1.86 million; the cities of Belleview and Dunnellon will each receive roughly $202,634; the towns of McIntosh and Reddick will each get nearly $50,660. County Finance director John Garri said the county will need about $1.8 million a year from the new gas tax to begin paying off the initial $23 million. Once the county borrows the other $27 million, that debt payment will roughly double, Garri said. Still, that leaves Marion County more than $1 million a year that can be used for other construction projects. During the first phase, the county has utilized the borrowed funds for three widening projects now under way: • County Road 200A from U.S. 441 to Northeast 35th Street; • Southeast 31st Street from 19th Avenue to Maricamp Road; and • Southwest 60th Avenue between 95th Street and 80th Street. Recently, county officials added the new Sharpes Ferry Bridge to that list. The next phase will fund construction of the Southwest 42nd Street flyover running between State Road 200 and 27th Avenue and right-of-way acquisition for the completion of the Belleview Beltway.

Goodbye, tax

The disappearance of the school district’s supplemental half-cent levy makes 2010 the first time in seven years that local taxpayers have not had to pony up a little bit more for most goods and services they purchase. Since implemented in 2005, the local sales tax for school construction has generated $109 million, or about 9 percent above the projections offered when school officials lobbied for the tax in 2004. That money, according to School Superintendent Jim Yancey, has funded the construction of three schools: Liberty Middle School, Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks and Marion Oaks Elementary, plus a fourth that will be built in Silver Springs Shores. Yancey said plans for two additional schools to be built with sales-tax proceeds — a middle school in Silver Springs Shores and an elementary school in Ocala — have been shelved. The school district, Yancey said, faces a big adjustment in losing the $22 million a year it has garnered on average each year through the sales tax. Currently, the first option is to add portable classrooms to existing schools to handle the growing student population, he said. Beyond that, though, the options are less clear. The School Board has discussed renewing the half-cent sales tax, Yancey said. While no decision has been made on whether to pursue that, Yancey said if the board goes that route, its preference would be to go back to voters in the November 2010 elections. In the worst-case scenario — which, despite the persistent funding problems the school system faces, he emphasized has not been talked about to this point — Yancey said the district may consider double sessions or year-round school. “Those are not attractive options to us as educators, or to parents or to students. But in this year’s economy, these are options we are going to have to discuss,” Yancey said. For now, he added, “we’re going to keep stacking people up until we fill up.”

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